Three B's Prospects Featured on Canada's WJC Camp Roster

Three B\'s Prospects Featured on Canada\'s WJC Camp RosterAmong the 37 players selected to participate in the Dec. 11-13 camp in Calgary are six returnees, including Dougie Hamilton, the No. 9 pick by the Bruins in the 2011 NHL Draft.

NHL.com -- Hockey Canada on Monday announced the 37-player roster of skaters and goalies invited to Canada's National Junior Team selection camp at the Markin MacPhail Centre at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Dec. 11-13.

Additionally, 2011-12 Calder Trophy runner-up Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who has never suited up for Team Canada at the WJC, will also be part of the camp.

In December 2010, Nugent-Hopkins, then 17, was cut from Canada's team on the very last day of camp. In December 2011, he was already a key member of the Edmonton Oilers while averaging a point per game, so he was not released by the organization.

The camp roster will have four goalies, 12 defensemen and 21 forwards. The team will be coached by Steve Spott, who served as an assistant coach during Canada's silver medal-winning effort at the 2010 WJC. Spott, head coach of the Kitchener Rangers, will be joined on the coaching staff by assistants Mario Duhamel (Drummondville, QMJHL), Don Nachbaur (Spokane, WHL) and André Tourigny (Rouyn-Noranda, QMJHL).

"Thanks to Hockey Canada's Program of Excellence, many of these players have already received the experience necessary to deal with high-paced international competition such as the World Juniors," Hockey Canada head scout Kevin Prendergast said in a statement. "The quality and skill of the 37 players invited to camp next week is a testament to the hard work, commitment and development of all those involved in the Canadian minor hockey and junior hockey systems."

The Canadian team will be named Dec. 13 and will depart for pre-competition camp in Finland two days later. The 2013 WJC will be held Dec. 26 through Jan. 5 in Ufa, Russia. All countries are required to submit their WJC rosters to the International Ice Hockey Federation on Dec. 25. There will be 23 players named to the Canadian National Team roster instead of the usual 22 -- a third goaltender will be included as an alternate.

"If something happens to one of our goaltenders, we'd never get a goalie in there in time," Prendergast told The Canadian Press. "[The third goalie] is going to be told going over, 'You're the third goaltender. The only way you're going to get to play is if one of the other two gets hurt.'"

The four goalies competing for three spots will be Malcom Subban (Boston Bruins) of the Belleville Bulls, Jordan Binnington (St. Louis Blues) of the Owen Sound Attack, Jake Paterson (Detroit Red Wings) of the Saginaw Spirit and Laurent Broissoit (Calgary Flames) of the Edmonton Oil Kings. Etienne Marcoux of the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada in the QMJHL would have also been a camp invite, but suffered an apparent dislocated shoulder on Saturday.

In place of the customary summer development and evaluation camp in August, Hockey Canada had 28 players compete in a four-game exhibition series against the Russians. Canada won that series on a thrilling overtime goal by Strome 3:20 into the first extra period.

That Canadian roster for the four-game Canada-Russia Series had seven players who participated at last year's WJC: Hamilton, Harrington, Ryan Murray (Columbus Blue Jackets) of Everett Silvertips, Huberdeau, Jenner, Scheifele and Strome. Unfortunately, Murray's season is over after suffering a season-ending torn labrum in his left shoulder in November.

The camp roster will also have four players eligible for the 2013 NHL Draft in Newark, N.J.: forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin of the Halifax Mooseheads in the QMJHL, Hunter Shinkaruk of the Medicine Hat Tigers in the WHL and J.C. Lipon of the Kamloops Blazers in the WHL.

MacKinnon, the No. 1-rated skater on NHL Central Scouting's preliminary list of players from the QMJHL, will serve as captain for Team Cherry at the Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Jan. 16. Drouin, who is MacKinnon's linemate in Halifax, will be an alternate captain for Team Cherry. Shinkaruk, the No. 2-rated skater in the WHL, will be an alternate captain for Team Orr at the Top Prospects Game. Lipon has been passed over at the NHL Draft the previous two years.

Canada will play in Group B at the 2013 WJC, along with Russia, the United States, Slovakia and Germany, with preliminary-round games being played at the 7,950-seat Ufa Arena.

Defending gold medalist Sweden, which scored a 1-0 overtime victory against Russia in last year's WJC gold medal game to end 30 years of championship futility, heads Group A with Finland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Latvia.